Sunday Stealing

QUESTIONS FROM TY AND LOGAN

1. Where did your name come from? My mother simply liked it. 

2. Where were you born? Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois. When a new facility was completed in 2009, the building where I was born was closed and finally sold to a developer last year. MY Sherman Hospital was suddenly on the news again in March of this year, when the National Guard and Army Corps of Enginners arrived to get it ready to handle Covid19 patients.

3. What as your house like, growing up? It was a 3 BR ranch house, built by my grandparents in 1952. After about 8 summers of tending the big backyard and dealing with a leaky basement, my grandparents decided they wanted to try apartment living and sold the house to my mom and dad. I was still a toddler and my older sister a pre-schooler. In the mid-1960s, when my kid sister arrived, my parents added a bedroom and a half-bath. After my mom's death in 2014, the house was sold. I know she would have hated that. She seemed to think of it as Tara, where only her family had lived.

4. What was your childhood bedroom like? It was the smallest bedroom, but the only one with a view of the front yard. It was a mess, which is unsurprising because I am a messy clutterbug.


5. Did you travel as a child? Where? We did precious little traveling when I young. My mother loved this godforsaken resort in Wisconsin and insisted we go every year. Year after year. I hated it. Writing this makes me smile, though, because I realize anew I get my sentimentality from my mom. We were just sentimental about different things,

6. Write about your grandparents. I've been thinking about my grandparents -- my dad's folks -- a lot lately because of Covid19. My grandfather was a new immigrant and so very grateful to be an American when he married my grandma, who was then still in her teens. They spoke often about doing their duty by their country during WWII. Ration stamps, saving bacon grease and aluminum foil, tending a Victory Garden. etc. They felt it was a privilege to do without when your country asked you to. I can just imagine how shocked and disgusted they would be with whining REOPEN NOW crowd who believe that staying home to protect their neighbors and stop a virus is somehow "oppression."


7. Who taught you how to drive? Mr. Brown was a boy's PE teacher and a terrible drivers' ed instructor.


8. When did you first leave home? After high school I worked two jobs to afford 1) a trip to Europe and 2) my own apartment. It took me a little over two years, but I accomplished both!


via GIPHY

9. What did your parents do for work? My dad was an auto mechanic, my mom tended house.


10. Who inspired you as you matured? A desire to be independent.

11. What was the best part of your 20s? Meeting John, Gregory, Kathy and Mindy, all of whom are still in my life to this day.


12. What as the best part of your 30s? I began taking myself more seriously and concentrate on my career. To borrow from Amy Winehouse, I decided to "be own best friend and not fuck myself in the head with stupid men."


13. Where is the most fascinating place you’ve visited? Oh, golly, I don't know. I've enjoyed my solo vacations so much! There has been something wonderful about each place I've gone. I like places with ties to American history. Williamsburg, VA, Washington DC, Boston and Illinois' own Springfield with all the Lincoln sites. I'd love to revisit them all!

14. What is your favorite family story? As a family, we went to see Mary Poppins at one of the big movie palaces downtown. It was the first movie I'd ever seen in a theater (as opposed to the drive in) and it was fantastic! I will always remember sitting there in my plush seat in the dark, the big drapes opened, and I was transported to the rooftops of London. Magic!


15. What was your most memorable birthday? I love my birthday. They're all dear to me. I encourage my friends to celebrate it early and often!

16. What was your favorite food as a child? Other than sweets, it was a tie between fish sticks and ham sandwiches.